The Grade Level Education standard for the lesson is concerned with developing a student's thinking ability with the scientific method. The form of critical thinking will help the student develop a pattern that will help them approach problems in an organized and rational pattern. Even though the "scientific method" is only a series of steps, studying its different phases can help strengthen the use of logic and other cognitive skills. As a result of understanding the effects of practicing the method, the GSE standard states that the students will develop the ability to be able to use the most effective method in order to collect the necessary data to answer the student/teacher generated question. They will be able to collect, organize, and present the data in the most appropriate way in order to analyze it and draw possible conclusions for the question being asked. As they make conclusions, more importantly, they will consider the limitations that could affect their conclusions. Finally, the students will be able ask their own questions which could help make new predictions and connections to real world applications.
One of the objective for the standards-based lesson plan is to teach the students how to "collect and organize data in a table (based on observations of phase change)." First, it will teach the students proper laboratory behavior such as following safety precautions to be safe, and being accurate by correctly performing the procedure in order collect the necessary data. With the data collected, the students will learn how to create an organized table that can be later used as a reference. By completing the objective, the students will understand the importance of being accurate because it allows for scientists to make more plausible theories. If the scientists were incorrect with their execution, then the theories would not be around and no one would practice proper laboratory ethics because they knew it wouldn't pay off. Since the students know the theories, however, they will preform the experiment as many times as it takes to get satisfying results. As a result, they will adopt a more logical way of executing the experiment, either through correct measurements or taking the necessary time, in order to have the best results. Also, organizing the data in a data table helps teach the students the importance of keeping data in a neat manner. If they begin to create a visual representation of the data and they have a disorganized data, they will not understand what they are looking at and spend too much time redoing the experiment.
II. The Learning Environment
The learning environment for the students allows for maximum group and class interaction. The desks were arranged in groups of four in the center of the room in a rectangle shape with walkways in between each group of desks. As for the resources, the projector was located towards the front center of the class room and each student had their experiment observations and results next to them with other necessary items such as rulers. Since the students were grouped together for the entire lesson, two skill can come about from it. During the laboratory portion of the experiment, each student could be assigned a role such as timekeeper, recorder, thermometer reader, and observer, and that will allow each student to gain experience for that particular skill. Besides being productive, giving them each an assigned role will keep them focused because the experiment cannot be completed without their help. The grouping will also help during the analysis portion because the students can converse amongst themselves in order to arrive at an answer or idea. With a few feet of space in between each group of desks, it prevents the groups from talking to friends while allowing the teacher to keep track of their progress. By having the projector at the front of the room, it allows the teacher to see each student at the same time and prevent talking of unrelated material. Finally, the teacher has the option of walking around the room as she explains the lesson since every student has their material in front of them. All in all, the classroom environment is incredibly helpful for the teacher and students who are involved in the lesson.
Setting a comfortable learning environment for students is crucial for success in education. A learning environment should be comfortable, but not too comfortable. The students should feel as if they are able to express themselves in a safe environment but the tables and chairs should not be comfy because the students must know that there is a time for relaxation and comfort and also a time for work. Decorations and posters on the wall also change the environment. Having zero posters in the room could make the students feel as if the room is not friendly and safe, although having too many posters can tend to make the room too busy for concentrating. There is a happy medium where the students feel comfortable, but know that it is time to work. A learning environment is important in order for students to focus and succeed. The way the desks were set up in the room also contributes to a higher focus rate; with the desks in groups and the focus on the teacher in the front of the room. In a classroom, the teacher should always be set up as the main focus because it gives the teacher the panorama view all of the students and can see who is understanding the material and who is having difficulty. Therefore, the classroom learning environment is extremely important and helpful to the teacher if the students are set up in a way that is easy for him/her to interact with the class.
III. The Learning Activities
Students in the eighth grade are required to learn about science and more specifically, the characteristic properties of matter. There are many ways to go about learning them but the teacher in this class uses charts and graphs. Prior to the lesson, the students already knew that kinetic energy is the energy of motion, and that temperature is a measurement of kinetic energy. Therefore, from knowing this information, the teacher begins class with the proposal of a question that will start off the day’s lesson. Once the students understand the concept, the teacher shows them graphs in order to provide a visual. The teacher gives them a blank graph and asks the children to fill it out accordingly. There are groups of four in each desk cluster and each student is in charge of a job to undergo with the experiment and fill in the graphs. After the students have discussed their answers with their group, the teacher begins to discuss the answer, although she does not automatically tell them which graph is correct. The teacher begins asking the students what their graph's look like and how they came to their conclusion. After each group discussed their graph and why they thought theirs was right, then the teacher gave the correct explanation.
Having structure to the standards-based lesson plan is very important and teaches the children that there is a correct and rigid way to successful learning. Proposing a question at the start of class begins the activities of the day and forces the children to start thinking as soon as class begins. As the teacher is going on with the lesson and teaching methods to succeed such as the graphs, it gives the children a better understanding of the question and everything comes into correlation. Having a learning activity is one of the main parts of a lesson in my personal opinion. I believe that having an activity for the students to complete breaks up the lecture part of the class and gives the students a chance to show that they are understanding the material. In a standards-based lesson plan learning activities are the main part which are followed by the wrap up which is also very important. The wrap up concludes the lesson and points out key ideas that were discussed during the lesson.
IV. Personal Reflections (Yours)
In my opinion, the standards-based lesson plan was very well planned and had the right expectations, but it was executed as well as it could have been due to the topic and classroom cooperation. It was a great idea to put the students into groups of four because it was the perfect way to keep the students occupied and focused but not have them become bored and have them wander off. When the class shifted from the laboratory to the analysis portion, the groups were maintained in order to keep group discussion and motivation. I know from experience that by being grouped with other students, there is a better chance that one of you understands it and can show the others. Besides the grouping, all of the resources were at the students desk and the teacher arranged the room in such away so that she could walk to every student easily. Yet, no matter how many questions the teacher asked or how the classroom layout was, the topic is not very interesting to students. Basically, the students watched ice melt as the temperature increased and they reported on it. Also, if there is new material being presented in a classroom of students and the teacher asks a question that they have never encountered, there is a very low chance none of the will answer because they don't want to be wrong. The key for better interactions is to make the lesson more intriguing or be a more animated teacher. - ccapizzano
I believe that the way this teacher approached the characteristic properties of matter lesson was very effective. Starting the lesson with a question and ending with an explanation explains a complete thought and by asking a question in the beginning makes it clear that in order for the lesson to be complete, all of the students must be able to answer and explain the topic at hand. When I become a teacher I would take this teaching method into consideration because in the video clip it looked like the students were understanding it, as well as having a visual to look at.
Title: Graphing Energy Use During Phase Changes
Authors:
1. Connor Capizzano2. Marisa Merola
I. Standard Benchmark(s) and Learning Objective:
The Grade Level Education standard for the lesson is concerned with developing a student's thinking ability with the scientific method. The form of critical thinking will help the student develop a pattern that will help them approach problems in an organized and rational pattern. Even though the "scientific method" is only a series of steps, studying its different phases can help strengthen the use of logic and other cognitive skills. As a result of understanding the effects of practicing the method, the GSE standard states that the students will develop the ability to be able to use the most effective method in order to collect the necessary data to answer the student/teacher generated question. They will be able to collect, organize, and present the data in the most appropriate way in order to analyze it and draw possible conclusions for the question being asked. As they make conclusions, more importantly, they will consider the limitations that could affect their conclusions. Finally, the students will be able ask their own questions which could help make new predictions and connections to real world applications.One of the objective for the standards-based lesson plan is to teach the students how to "collect and organize data in a table (based on observations of phase change)." First, it will teach the students proper laboratory behavior such as following safety precautions to be safe, and being accurate by correctly performing the procedure in order collect the necessary data. With the data collected, the students will learn how to create an organized table that can be later used as a reference. By completing the objective, the students will understand the importance of being accurate because it allows for scientists to make more plausible theories. If the scientists were incorrect with their execution, then the theories would not be around and no one would practice proper laboratory ethics because they knew it wouldn't pay off. Since the students know the theories, however, they will preform the experiment as many times as it takes to get satisfying results. As a result, they will adopt a more logical way of executing the experiment, either through correct measurements or taking the necessary time, in order to have the best results. Also, organizing the data in a data table helps teach the students the importance of keeping data in a neat manner. If they begin to create a visual representation of the data and they have a disorganized data, they will not understand what they are looking at and spend too much time redoing the experiment.
II. The Learning Environment
The learning environment for the students allows for maximum group and class interaction. The desks were arranged in groups of four in the center of the room in a rectangle shape with walkways in between each group of desks. As for the resources, the projector was located towards the front center of the class room and each student had their experiment observations and results next to them with other necessary items such as rulers. Since the students were grouped together for the entire lesson, two skill can come about from it. During the laboratory portion of the experiment, each student could be assigned a role such as timekeeper, recorder, thermometer reader, and observer, and that will allow each student to gain experience for that particular skill. Besides being productive, giving them each an assigned role will keep them focused because the experiment cannot be completed without their help. The grouping will also help during the analysis portion because the students can converse amongst themselves in order to arrive at an answer or idea. With a few feet of space in between each group of desks, it prevents the groups from talking to friends while allowing the teacher to keep track of their progress. By having the projector at the front of the room, it allows the teacher to see each student at the same time and prevent talking of unrelated material. Finally, the teacher has the option of walking around the room as she explains the lesson since every student has their material in front of them. All in all, the classroom environment is incredibly helpful for the teacher and students who are involved in the lesson.Setting a comfortable learning environment for students is crucial for success in education. A learning environment should be comfortable, but not too comfortable. The students should feel as if they are able to express themselves in a safe environment but the tables and chairs should not be comfy because the students must know that there is a time for relaxation and comfort and also a time for work. Decorations and posters on the wall also change the environment. Having zero posters in the room could make the students feel as if the room is not friendly and safe, although having too many posters can tend to make the room too busy for concentrating. There is a happy medium where the students feel comfortable, but know that it is time to work. A learning environment is important in order for students to focus and succeed. The way the desks were set up in the room also contributes to a higher focus rate; with the desks in groups and the focus on the teacher in the front of the room. In a classroom, the teacher should always be set up as the main focus because it gives the teacher the panorama view all of the students and can see who is understanding the material and who is having difficulty. Therefore, the classroom learning environment is extremely important and helpful to the teacher if the students are set up in a way that is easy for him/her to interact with the class.
III. The Learning Activities
Students in the eighth grade are required to learn about science and more specifically, the characteristic properties of matter. There are many ways to go about learning them but the teacher in this class uses charts and graphs. Prior to the lesson, the students already knew that kinetic energy is the energy of motion, and that temperature is a measurement of kinetic energy. Therefore, from knowing this information, the teacher begins class with the proposal of a question that will start off the day’s lesson. Once the students understand the concept, the teacher shows them graphs in order to provide a visual. The teacher gives them a blank graph and asks the children to fill it out accordingly. There are groups of four in each desk cluster and each student is in charge of a job to undergo with the experiment and fill in the graphs. After the students have discussed their answers with their group, the teacher begins to discuss the answer, although she does not automatically tell them which graph is correct. The teacher begins asking the students what their graph's look like and how they came to their conclusion. After each group discussed their graph and why they thought theirs was right, then the teacher gave the correct explanation.Having structure to the standards-based lesson plan is very important and teaches the children that there is a correct and rigid way to successful learning. Proposing a question at the start of class begins the activities of the day and forces the children to start thinking as soon as class begins. As the teacher is going on with the lesson and teaching methods to succeed such as the graphs, it gives the children a better understanding of the question and everything comes into correlation. Having a learning activity is one of the main parts of a lesson in my personal opinion. I believe that having an activity for the students to complete breaks up the lecture part of the class and gives the students a chance to show that they are understanding the material. In a standards-based lesson plan learning activities are the main part which are followed by the wrap up which is also very important. The wrap up concludes the lesson and points out key ideas that were discussed during the lesson.
IV. Personal Reflections (Yours)
In my opinion, the standards-based lesson plan was very well planned and had the right expectations, but it was executed as well as it could have been due to the topic and classroom cooperation. It was a great idea to put the students into groups of four because it was the perfect way to keep the students occupied and focused but not have them become bored and have them wander off. When the class shifted from the laboratory to the analysis portion, the groups were maintained in order to keep group discussion and motivation. I know from experience that by being grouped with other students, there is a better chance that one of you understands it and can show the others. Besides the grouping, all of the resources were at the students desk and the teacher arranged the room in such away so that she could walk to every student easily. Yet, no matter how many questions the teacher asked or how the classroom layout was, the topic is not very interesting to students. Basically, the students watched ice melt as the temperature increased and they reported on it. Also, if there is new material being presented in a classroom of students and the teacher asks a question that they have never encountered, there is a very low chance none of the will answer because they don't want to be wrong. The key for better interactions is to make the lesson more intriguing or be a more animated teacher.
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I believe that the way this teacher approached the characteristic properties of matter lesson was very effective. Starting the lesson with a question and ending with an explanation explains a complete thought and by asking a question in the beginning makes it clear that in order for the lesson to be complete, all of the students must be able to answer and explain the topic at hand. When I become a teacher I would take this teaching method into consideration because in the video clip it looked like the students were understanding it, as well as having a visual to look at.
SBLD - Graphing Energy F08